Couple weathered Irma in Cuba

A Brockville couple is grateful to be home from their Cuban vacation after being caught in the middle of Hurricane Irma, but they say they are angry their airline let them down.

Rheal Morel and Jean Cummins made it through Saturday’s storm by holing up in the storm bunker of their Varadero hotel with about 125 other guests.

Officials with the couple’s airline said the high volume of passengers was to blame for the disruptions.

The dank bunker in the hotel’s basement had no windows, no lights and no air. Water covered the floor so the guests sat on tables as the hurricane raged outside.

“Were we scared? There was no time to be scared,” said Cummins, who said the couple is lucky to be alive.

When the first winds of the hurricane came Saturday, the guests were originally taken to a hotel theatre to wait out the storm. Later that day they were herded into the bunker as the storm gathered force. Cumming said that after the storm they saw that the ceiling of the theatre had collapsed and a huge air conditioner had crashed right where the couple held been standing.

It was unpleasant in the bunker. It was hot, wet, there were bugs and the toilets wouldn’t flush because there was no water. Cummins slept fitfully sitting on a chair with her head on a table. Morel mostly stood.

The guests spent Saturday until noon Sunday in the bunker, Morel and Cummins said. Despite the discomfort, they praised the work of the hotel staff, who did their best under difficult circumstances.

“They took good care of us,” said Morel, adding that the guests gave the staff a standing ovation and passed the hat for them after the ordeal was over.

“They were worried about our security more than their own,” he said.

But while praising the staff, the couple was annoyed with their airline, Sunwing, for its lack of communication with the guests.

“There was no communication, not contacts, no nothing,” Morel said.

In the aftermath of the storm, the couple said they waited from Sunday until late Tuesday to get a Sunwing flight. There was nothing to do but sit around and chat with other passengers as they waited for a word on a flight home.

They claimed it was very hard to get answers from the Sunwing representative on the scene, even though passengers on Air Canada and Air Transat seemed to be well informed.

In a statement, Sunwing said its evacuation plan in Cuba was especially complex because it had more customers in Cuba than every other Canadian airline combined.

“As a result of the volume of passengers, unexpected airport closures, and the complexity of moving people via land to remaining departure points, the effort has been challenging,” Sunwing said.

“We worked diligently to evacuate as many customers as possible in advance of the storm and as the Varadero airport closed earlier than anticipated, our team’s focus turned to working with local officials and hotel partners to ensure that there was a secure place for our customers,” the company added in a subsequent statement.

“Our local representatives worked around the clock to reach out to our hotel partners and confirm the welfare of our guests.”

Although the couple has visited Cuba three times in the past and enjoyed it, they say they will never go back.